It’s only October, I know, but the best homemade Christmas gifts are the ones you make now and forget about until December.
This is the first of three make-ahead posts; October is for the gifts that need time to mature, November is for biscuits, sweets and things that keep for a few weeks while December is for the last-minute fresh bakes and wrapping. Make a few gifts to pop away in the cupbaord now and you can relax a little!
Your October checklist
- Make the mincemeat (it needs at least 2 weeks to mature)
- Start a boozy infusion or two
- Start your vanilla extract (it needs at least 8 weeks)
- Make apple butter while the windfalls last and freeze it in small jars
- Make a batch of chutney (it needs 2 to 3 months, so this week is perfect)
- Collect and sterilise jars and bottles
- Order or buy tags, labels and ribbon
1. Cranberry and almond mincemeat
Traditional mincemeat is wonderful, but this year I made a version with dried cranberries, orange and flaked almonds stirred in at the end for a bit of crunch. Make it now and it will be ready for mince pies, and it makes a very good gift. It needs at least 2 weeks to mature, and 4 is even better.
Get the recipe: Cranberry and almond mincemeat
Gift tip: tie a tag on the jar with “Mincemeat, made [date]” and a note to add a splash of brandy to the pastry for extra Christmassy mince pies.
2. Boozy gifts to start now
Boozy gifts need a few weeks to mature, so they’re worth starting now, and frozen fruit is fine for the liqueurs if you’ve missed the fresh season. Pour them into small bottles with a handwritten tag and they make a lovely present.
- Homemade coffee liqueur. Rich, smooth and surprisingly easy. How to make your own coffee liqueur
- Foraged damson spiced vodka liqueur. Damsons are around now, and if the sloes have all gone (they have round us, the birds got there first), this is a lovely swap. Foraged damson spiced vodka liqueur
- Bex’s Christmas pudding vodka. Everything you love about Christmas pudding, in a glass. Christmas pudding vodka liqueur
- Hedgerow schnapps. A good one if you have a mixed bag of berries from a walk. Our favourite hedgerow schnapps
Gift tip: pair the coffee liqueur with a set of mocha hot chocolate spoons, and you have a present that looks far more expensive than it was.
3. Homemade vanilla extract
Vanilla extract is just vanilla pods steeped in vodka, and it needs at least 8 weeks, so starting now means a gift that is ready for Christmas. Slit 6 to 8 pods lengthways, put them in a clean bottle with 250ml of vodka, and keep it in a cool, dark cupboard, shaking it now and then. Label it “contains alcohol” if you are giving it to someone who does not drink, and offer vanilla sugar as an alcohol-free alternative.
4. Apple butter for the freezer
While there are still windfalls about, our slow-cooker autumn harvest fruit butter is an easy one to make and freeze. It has less sugar than a traditional jam, so it isn’t a preserve in the usual sense, and although it only keeps in the fridge for up to two weeks, it freezes for up to a year. That means you can make it now, freeze it in small jars or containers, and defrost it a few days before you give it.
Get the recipe: Lazy slow-cooker autumn harvest fruit butter
5. Windfall apple chutney
If you or a neighbour have apples dropping off a tree, this is the one. It is my granny’s recipe, it is very forgiving, and it genuinely tastes best after 2 to 3 months in a dark cupboard, so a batch made now is ready right on time. Pot it in sterilised jars while hot. Once opened, keep it in the fridge.
Get the recipe: Granny’s easy windfall apple chutney
Gift it with a pack of cheese biscuits and a small cheese for an instant cheeseboard present.
6. Get organised now
This is the dull bit that saves your sanity later. Start saving jars now, and ask friends to do the same, then wash them well and keep the lids. Buy bottles and a few decent tags before the shops sell out, and write the ingredients on each label so anyone with allergies knows what they are getting.
Getting your jars ready
If you have been saving jam jars all year, they may still smell of whatever was in them before. Mix 3 parts bicarbonate of soda to 1 part water into a paste, smear it over the jar and the lid and leave overnight; rinse and the pickled-gherkin smell will be gone. The same trick shifts stubborn labels: mix bicarb with a little vegetable oil, smear it over the label, leave for 24 hours and give it a good scrub with a washing-up cloth. Sterilise as usual before filling. There is more in Granny’s windfall apple chutney recipe.
Coming up in November
Biscuits, marzipan, sugared almonds and sweets that keep for a few weeks, plus jar mix gifts.
